Leaderboard Zone

Just got this email from eBay communications, announcing that eBay is using AdWords again, but read on:

The test we began last week was successful. We found that we were not as dependent on Google AdWords as some may have thought. By re-allocating our marketing dollars to our other partners, such as Yahoo!, AOL and MSN, we were able to increase traffic and find efficiencies that will enable us to drive more value to our sellers and partners going forward. We are now slowly turning AdWords back on, in a much more limited way than before. We will continue to work with Google, Yahoo!, AOL, MSN and other partners to reach more potential buyers and accelerate business for our community of sellers.

I second the comment above: “Why did they need to turn google off to test the effectiveness of other traffic sources?” I would sure as hell hope that they can measure the effectiveness of every single ad they buy based on whether it converts into a sale. If they can’t, they deserve increased competition from google.

There may be some true in eBay’s statement as I have found Yahoo to have starting driving a lot more search traffic than previously. It could also be assumed that eBay management felt a greater need to reallocate money to other advertising outlets (but shutting down for a week is not the way to go).